Khamudi

Khamudi
Cylinder seal with a cartouche possibly reading "Khamudi".
Pharaoh
Reign	1534–1522 BC (Franke ), 1541–1540 BC (Ryholt ) (15th Dynasty)
Predecessor	Apepi
Successor	last Hyksos ruler, supplanted by Ahmose I
Royal titulary

Khamudi (also known as Khamudy) was the last Hyksos ruler of the Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Khamudi came to power in 1534 BC or 1541 BC, ruling the northern portion of Egypt from his capital Avaris. His ultimate defeat at the hands of Ahmose I, after a short reign, marks the end of the Second Intermediate Period.

Khamudi is listed on the Turin canon, column 10, line 28 (Gardiner entry 10.20) as the last Hyksos king. Beyond this, only two scarab seals are firmly attributed to him, both from Jericho.

Additionally, a cylinder seal of unknown provenance but possibly from Byblos is inscribed with a cartouche which may read "Khamudi". This reading is contested by the egyptologist Kim Ryholt who proposed that the cartouche reads "Kandy" instead and refers to an hitherto unknown king. In any case, even if the cartouche bears Khamudi's name, it is believed to have been inscribed on the seal simply to fill up space rather than as an explicit reference to Khamudi. The seal is currently housed in the Petrie Museum, catalog number UC 11616.

Based on the scarcity of material dating to Khamudi's reign, Ryholt has proposed that his reign must have been short, amounting to no more than a year. In this situation, Khamudi would have inherited little more than the Hyksos throne, being possibly already besieged in Sharuhen, the last Hyksos stronghold in the Negev Desert.

This is contested by other scholars, such as Manfred Bietak, who points to a year 11 of an unknown king on the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus. Bietak and many egyptologists believe that this year 11 belongs to Khamudi since the text of the papyrus refers to Ahmose I, founder of the Egyptian New Kingdom as "He of the South." As Thomas Schneider writes: